Samsung Pay to add support for 5 more banks in 2019
Samsung has announced that it will add support for five more banks to its Samsung Pay platform next year.
Speaking at a media event in Johannesburg, Samsung Pay Project Lead Philip Henning said the company expects to partner with five more banks in 2019 – including Investec and Discovery Bank.
He also gave a timeline for Samsung Pay’s added bank support, stating that in the first quarter of 2019 Samsung will partner with Investec, Discovery Bank, and one other institution which he did not name.
Samsung Pay will also add support for one more bank in the second quarter of the year, and another in the last quarter of 2019.
These rough timelines for added bank support for Samsung Pay are detailed below:
- Q1 2019 – 3 banks (including Discovery Bank and Investec)
- Q2 2019 – 1 bank
- Q4 2019 – 1 bank
While Henning could not state the exact timelines for these banks, he did add that Samsung was in negotiations with FNB to implement the platform.
“We are currently in the process of implementing Samsung Pay with FNB, but I am not allowed to disclose any timelines,” Henning said.
When responding to questions about support for digital-only platforms such as TymeBank and Bank Zero, Henning said he was unable to provide feedback on whether these banks would launch next year.
Usage and adoption
Samsung Pay has seen impressive adoption in South Africa, with an increasing number of users installing and using the app on a regular basis.
Henning said that while he could not reveal the exact number of users on the platform in South Africa, the platform has processed hundreds of thousands of transactions locally.
“With some of the figures we have seen, such as number of transactions compared to users, South Africa has some of the highest numbers in the world,” Henning said.
He added that users whose banks do not support Samsung Pay are still using the platform as an easy way to store and use their various loyalty cards.
The Samsung Pay app supports any loyalty cards which use a numeric sequence, barcode, or QR code.
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